A Meeting of Minds
by blue meridian
Summary: IshtarDarres fluff. The idea just seized me. A weird combination of angsty and humorous. And uber-cute. I blame it on the sleep deprivation.


Disclaimer: Vampire Game and it's characters are not my possession. Give me two days and some Starbucks to take over the world and then we'll talk ownership, mmkay?

Warning: ...this...actually...isn't slash, so...there's really nothing...to warn you about......I'm so confused.....my world is all...askew...

A/N: All I can say is, thank God, or maybe just VG fans and fanfiction writers everywhere, that there's finally a VG section on this site. WOOOT! Go Ishtar/Darres. And many other pairings which I am also quite besotted with. So, enough ramblings.

-A Meeting of Minds-

She was running.

Was it any surprise, really? That was all she ever did. Run away. And she could never even do it properly. One way or another, someone would invariably find her and take her back. There were Darres' footsteps now. She stopped by a tree, thinking maybe she could at least climb it and put off the inevitable, but sturdy hands pulled her down before she had even made it to the first branch.

She tugged her arm away and looked at the tall knight in haughty disdain. She could pretend she had the upper hand, at the very least.

"I'm not going back to the castle, whatever you might think," she informed him.

"Don't take that high and mighty tone of voice with me," Darres scolded. "You know very well that you_ are_ going back, so just stop sulking and let's go."

Ishtar crossed her arms and sat down on the forest floor, jutting her chin out rebelliously. "You can't make me." Darres quirked an eyebrow at her, and picked her up by the waist, slinging her light form over his shoulder.

"Hey! Darres! No fair! Darres, I'm telling you I don't want to go back there! Darres, put me down _now!_" she screamed, pounding on his back and kicking him in the stomach.

Darres winced, his stomach protesting almost as much as his captive, but he trekked dutifully onward.

"Darres, I mean it–"

"Look, I'm just doing what's best for you."

Ishtar's eyes dilated in unexpected fury, and fluid, electric words with shadowy claws hissed and warped on her tongue. A jarring _crack_ and Darres was flung away from her, results of a simple repelling spell she had mastered under Yujinn's tutelage. Darres stared at her, breathing hard, as she sat up from her sprawled position on the grass.

"What's _best_ for me? Is that really what you think you're doing? Or are you just following orders like everybody else?!" she shouted, not caring how angry she made him. "You're my _bodyguard_, Darres, you're supposed to _protect_ me, not drag me back to the people causing me pain!"

This seemed to give Darres pause, and when he spoke, it was in a slightly softer voice.

"Sir Keld wishes you no harm."

"Maybe he does and maybe he doesn't. Maybe he thinks throwing my every thought and feeling to the dirt and trampling it without a second thought is a form of paternal kindness. I don't know."

Darres sighed and pulled Ishtar to her feet.

"I know you don't always get a lot of say in the way your life goes, but..."

"Don't_ always_ get _a lot_ of say?! Try _never_ get _any_ say! Everywhere I turn it's just marriage and bloodlines. I'm just a ticket to the throne, or to an expanded kingdom." She quieted after her outburst, fists trembling at her sides. She continued, but her voice was shaky and pocketed with little pits of tears.

"Is it so selfish, to do what you want? Is it really that bad to get frustrated when you can't do the things that make you happy? Is there that much nobility in smiling and accepting things you hate?"

Darres shifted nervously. "Ishtar, you're the princess of Phelioista. You have more power than almost anyone else in the kingdom. So sometimes you have to ignore petty desires and do what's best for everyone else."

"Are you completely blind?!" Ishtar shrieked, "I have the least amount of power out of everyone! Even when I'm Queen, it'll still be some rich, greedy guy pulling the strings while I get shoved into the corner! Besides, what would you know about ignoring your own desires?! You don't have to answer to anyone!"

"That's not–"

"You don't have to spend your entire life doing something you hate!"

"I know exactly what it's like ignoring your desires and spending your life doing something you hate!" he bellowed, "I spend all my time chasing after some spoiled brat who runs around causing trouble because she thinks it's funny!"

Ishtar sucked in a breath, eyes narrowing to dangerous slits.

_I know!_ She wanted to scream, _I know I'm a brat...but still, you didn't have to just say it like that!_ She began storming back to the castle, furious tears garnishing the corners of her eyes.

"Well, why don't you just _quit_ if you hate me so much–"

Darres grabbed her and yanked her back, shoving her against the tree, and for a second she was afraid.

"I wasn't finished yet!" Darres shouted, his livid face frighteningly close to hers.

Ishtar glowered. Darres was stronger than anyone else she knew and he could definitely hurt her if he wanted to, but she sure as hell wasn't going to let him know she was scared.

Darres glared right back, his grip nearly crushing her shoulders.

"I spend all my time chasing after some brat who causes trouble because she thinks it's funny, and I have to save this brat as she nearly gets _killed_ a thousand times; I have to constantly worry about what kind of danger she'll get into next. I have to worry about it every waking moment and even sometimes when I'm sleeping, having nightmares about her because I feel like if anything ever happened I would be responsible for it! And I have to watch as this brat gets her life taken away from her, and I can't say anything about it; I can't do anything to stop it because I have to do my _job_..."

Ishtar was staring, her heart leaping about crazily in her chest, but Darres went on.

"...And I have to just _sit_ there as this brat, this stupid, lonely girl causes mess after mess just to get attention, and all I can do is try to clean it up and watch as she still gets ignored, as she just laughs at everybody and locks herself in her room and talks to the only company she has, some psychotic pet cat..."

"Kyawl," she corrected quietly.

"Whatever," Darres sighed, but he seemed calmer now. "The point is, I hate the fact that I can't ever say anything. When it comes to speaking my mind, I've got just about as much freedom as you do." He smirked wistfully. "Except you seem to do it anyway."

Ishatar regarded Darres thoughtfully, pushing herself off the tree.

"What would you say? If you could, I mean."

Darres started, furrowing his brows. "Well, I..." He turned away, eyes aloof. "I really can't say, princess. It isn't my place."

She scoffed, putting her hands on her hips. "Oh please, Darres, I think it's a little late to get all gentlemanly on me now; you've already called me a brat and shoved me up against a tree."

A light blush stole its way across Darres features. Ishtar noticed with amused delight, and poked him in the cheek.

"Aww, Darres is blushing; it's so cuuuute." This only served to cause the man to blush even more.

Ishtar laughed, her finger still poking at Darres' cheek. "Really, Darres, what's the matter? All I said was that you called me a brat and shoved me up against a tree."

"There are some implications, Ishtar, of shoving a person against a tree that have nothing to do with violence." His voice was low and strained; he was clearly trying to sound unaffected and failing splendidly.

Ishtar raised her eyebrows. "What, you mean like this?" With that, she grabbed his wrists, spun him around, pushed him playfully against the tree, and kissed him soundly.

Pulling away with a mischevious grin, she gauged her bodyguard's reaction.

...Well, if she had thought Darres was red _before_...

"Dar-res iii-is bluuuush-iiiing..." she sang, skipping around in a little circle.

"Oh, shut up," he muttered, before jerking her back into his arms and kissing her deeply back.

-fin-

A/N: Dear God, I wrote fluff. I wrote _het_ fluff. Not even a side-note of yaoi! What's wrong with me?! I think I'll go kill myself. After I finish giggling like an insanely drunk schoolgirl. Oh, that was just so cute. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Never again. ::giggle::


End file.
